Blog

January 9, 2014

Four-year-old Jadiel Velesquez was awarded $165 million in a personal injury suit against the Division of Youth and Family Services. The jury verdict, delivered on Dec. 13, represents the largest personal injury award in New Jersey’s history, and the nation’s largest against a child protective agency. A jury found that, due to the abusive behavior of the boy’s father, Joshua Velesquez, when Jadiel was an infant, the boy is now blind and in need of 24-hour supervision and care for the rest of his life. Joshua Velesquez is serving six years in jail for aggravated assault. Jadiel’s mother…

January 9, 2014

Nearly 15,000 Americans are facing a potential nightmare: a recall on a medical device placed in their hearts. The Guidewire, manufactured by Medtronic (one of the largest device makers in the world), was voluntarily recalled by the medical device manufacturer, after several patients reported complications. The FDA has categorized it as a Class I recall. The FDA defines a Class I recall as, “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” To date, only four adverse instances have been…

December 27, 2013

 For New Jersey residents who have the bad habit of jumping behind the wheel after having a few drinks, there may be some changes to the state’s DUI enforcements coming soon. On December 16, a state assembly panel advanced a bill which would require anyone convicted of drinking and driving to install an ignition interlock device in their cars. The device requires a driver to take a breath test before the car will start. If the device detects alcohol, it prevents the car from starting. Currently, New Jersey’s interlocking ignition device law applies to repeat…

December 18, 2013

With 112 cases of rabid animals in NJ from January to June, according to the state’s health officials, it appears that getting bit by an animal in the Garden State is just as likely as ever. Of those 112 instances, 13 were in Middlesex County, and the county’s Office of Health Services has recommended that anyone who has been bitten by a wild or domestic animal thoroughly wash the bite with soap and water. Then, report the incident immediately to their local health department.

December 18, 2013

Working on a construction site is inherently dangerous. However, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. born and immigrant Latinos are in more danger than any other race in the country to die in a construction accident. Hispanics and Latinos made up 75 percent of all deaths due to construction accidents, from 2003 – 2011. In New York, where 41 percent of construction workers identified themselves as Latino on the most recent census, 74 percent of all construction accident fatalities…

December 10, 2013

A law firm in Louisiana is being sued by one of its former clients. Patricia Frank was not happy with the service she received from her attorney, Mark W. Smith, in a slip and fall suit against Boomtown Casinos. Frank filed a suit against Continental Casualty Co., Mark W. Smith PLC and Mark W. Smith at the 24th Judicial District Court a month ago. Frank alleges that her attorney waited for over a year to file a suit against the casino, and missed the statute of limitations. As a result, she was unable to file suit and was…

December 6, 2013

President Barack Obama and his administration are on pace to deport more than three million undocumented immigrants by the end of his second term, according to Washington DC-based think tank the Pew Research Center. That number would represent the most deportations for any president in history, better than one million more than George W. Bush and more than two million more than Bill Clinton. While there is great rhetoric about the want and need for immigration reform from the Obama administration, based on his track record, undocumented immigrants can’t count on Obama to keep them here. Many people…

December 4, 2013

Sexual harassment can really happen at any time and at any place – it’s not just a workplace phenomenon. By definition, it’s considered sexual harassment if a person makes unwanted sexual advances or comments toward another person. Most often, people think of the workplace as being the epicenter of sexual harassment. Unwanted advances by co-workers or supervisors can be, and often are, extremely upsetting for the victim.  It’s even worse if the victim is being threatened by the advances. An example of this could be if a supervisor requests sexual favors in return for…

November 21, 2013

Trying and winning a wrongful termination case can be extremely difficult and time consuming. Just ask Sgt. Arthur Farra. He spent the last eight months fighting to be reinstated to his post at the Mingo County Sheriff’s Department in West Virginia – a position he felt he should have never lost. According to Farra, the now deceased Sherriff Eugene Crum took retaliatory actions against him, which ultimately led to his unlawful firing last February. Crum learned that Farra was investigating accusations of the sheriff purchasing illegal prescription drugs from a local drug dealer. Upon…